They may have died on the streets, in shelters or in prison. They all died without a permanent roof over their heads.
But in death, they are not forgotten.
One by one, their names were called Tuesday afternoon, the first day of winter and the longest night of the year.
A memorial service St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown Richmond honored the 17 known homeless people who died in the area this year.
The candlelight vigil was organized by Homeward, a nonprofit coordinating and planning agency for homeless services in the area, as part of National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day. More than 100 similar services were held across the country.
The vigil provides them with dignity in death and raises awareness to curb homelessness, said Kelly King Horne, executive director of Homeward.
"We commit ourselves, so that in 2011, housing, case management, services and treatment are even more accessible, so that fewer people die in the indignity of homelessness," she said.
Homeward gathered names of the deceased from service providers and social workers in the city of Richmond and Henrico and Chesterfield counties. Horne said there may be more homeless people who died this year and are unaccounted for.
There are more than 1,000 homeless people at any given time in the Richmond area according to point-in-time counts conducted by Homeward.
Nearly 20 people gathered in the courtyard at St. Paul's, holding votive candles in memory of those who died. The Rev. Wallace Adams-Riley, rector at St. Paul's, and the Rev. Tyrone Nelson, pastor of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, read off the names of those who died.
Then the church bell tolled 17 times.
"We are diminished by the deaths of 17 members of humanity, 17 children of God," said Adams-Riley. "We grieve their loss, and we grieve the poverty and the injustices that contributed to their deaths."
Sixth Mount Zion is the home to the city's cold weather overflow shelter, and the congregation builds relationships with those who use the shelter on Richmond's coldest nights.
Reaching out to those who are homeless is part of following Jesus Christ's teachings, Nelson said.
And some of those homeless who died this year may have passed through the shelter at Sixth Mount Zion, where a second memorial service was held.
"It's important to us because these people, quite possibly, have slept in our church," he said. "These are people that we know and are part of our community, our brothers and sisters."
But in these deaths hope is not lost, Adams-Riley said.
"We are not without the vision that God has given us, of a city upon a hill, where no woman, no man and no child dies in the streets of the city," he said.
jslayton@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6861
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